The sun was shining on us for the very first game for our brand new under 13 mixed team on Sunday 19th November 2017 against Newent. Our future Vixens and badgers have been working really hard every week at training and finally got to put their talents into action together as a team for Lydney hockey club. For some it was their first time playing 11 a side on a full pitch, the match was played over 60 minutes with the game split into 4 quarters rather than being played over the usual 2 halves.

The team consisting of Ella, Grace, Kaitlin, Lauren, Lily, Georgia, Phoebe, Toby, Billy, Syrus, Robbie, Luke and Jacob got straight in and were a threat right from the beginning. With some lovely teamwork the ball made its way to their D, with Lauren delivering a beautiful pass into the D to Georgia who shot at a very tight angle across the goal line for Kaitlin to touch it in securing the first goal within 4 min. Syrus, Billy, Robbie and Lily were solid in defence keeping the agile and skillful midfield Phoebe and Ella well supported only letting the very occasional ball get anywhere near our D, with keeper Grace promptly clearing it every time it came near. In the second quarter some strong attacking down the middle and a lovely pass out to Luke on the wing who with a cracking shot provided goal number 2 at about 25 min. Lydney gained a penalty corner and relying only on a brief practice before the game the boys stepped up to take the attacking short corner and resulted in the 3rd goal from Robbie at about 34 min. Shortly afterwards Newent worked their way into our D and in return were rewarded with a short corner of their own. The girls who had some experience from school games stepped up and did fantastically well defending their goal resulting in Lydney finding themselves attacking again with Robbie, in a short spell upfront, scoring goal number 4 and bringing the final score to 4-0. Toby showed great skill and determination on the wing and Jacob provided some amazing beaks up front, constantly keeping their defence on their toes. I was so impressed with the high level of hockey, teamwork and the overall adaptability of the players as we kept the subs rolling thus giving the players opportunity to try different positions. Thank you to Jane and Jeremy for helping with the running of the sideline and the fantastic support from the parents and other spectators. The team are a true credit to their coach Lisa. Well done everybody, hopefully this will be the first of many games and a taste of the future for developing up and coming vixen and badgers teams.

Thanks to Andy Lords’ organizing beforehand, Lisa and Laurens’ excellent leadership and coaching on the day and the team consisting of Lily, Grace, Lucy, Eva, Lucile, Caitlin and Libby the club was able to enter an under 12 girls team into the Cheltenham tournament this season, the first time for many years. Lydney went up against 15 other teams with some clubs entering as many as 4 different teams. The results were as follows:
Won 1-0 Vs Cheltenham (Lily)
Won 2-0 vs Marlborough (Lily x 2)
Lost 3-0 vs Worcester
Lost 2-1 vs Cirencester (Lily)
Drew 0-0 vs Cheltenham
Some fantastic results well done to everybody involved. Lauren and Lisa said “ Great first tournament with lots of good hockey!”
In addition with the exciting news that we have a sponsor ,Apex Drilling, who will be supplying some lovely new shirts for the team this will be the first tournament of many to come.

Once again a great hockey weekend for Lydney. With our 3rd team bringing home an 8-0 victory over Thornbury in the morning and the 1st teams 2-1 win against Yate at home just prior to our game, the pressure was on to make it success all round for a second week.
Energies were high after last weeks win and the ladies were fired up ready to take on the youthful but very talented Clifton 4, however prior to the Umpires whistle to start proceeding a minutes silence was observed as a mark of respect for Remembrance Day.
Once the game commenced we started off strong working hard from the offset however their agility and speed kept us on our toes as they managed to just beat us to the ball each time cutting off our attacks. However our defence remained solid stopping any strikers that broke in their tracks before they became too threatening and not conceding any defensive short corners or goals. About 10 minutes before the end of the 1st half after some fantastic passing and goal building we saw midfield take the ball into the D and a cracking shot got us our first goal. It was shortly after with the fire in our bellies and showing some beautiful composure in the D by our strikers the ball was worked round the keeper to result in an impressive if rather slow motion goal having everybody holding their breath as the ball trickled over the line. This took us to half time with a favourable score of 2-0.
Lydney held onto a lot of the possession second half increasing our speed onto the ball and squeezing Clifton further and further up the pitch and although we had a lot of attacking and a few short corners we didn’t manage to increase the score, but rallied on by our coach and the cheering crowd we were more than happy with another 3 points taking us up to 3rd place (only on goal difference) in the league.

Great excitement for Lydney hockey club this weekend as all 3 of our ladies teams celebrated victory.
Lydney 2nd team took on old Bristolians 3rd team away at Merchant Academy. With a brief down pour prior it was potentially going to be a soggy game however it cleared up and by the end the sun was shining down in us in more ways than one. Lydney won first push back and took full advantage attacking hard from the offset. Within about ten minutes it all paid off and we were 1-0 up. OB’s had a few short attacking bursts however lydney remained in control dominating the position with our defence squeezing most of the play into their final 3rd of the pitch. The attacking short corners were plentiful and after a few dramatic near misses we were able to score another 2 before half time. Although concious that OB’s would come out more determined and with zest to claw their way back, our spirits were high and we were confident if we continued to play with the composure and structure of the first half we could actually reach our rather ambitious target of 5 goals.
Second half OB’s put up a stronger fight and applying more pressure found themselves at our D and, although slightly questionable, scored to bring the score to 3-1. Not letting this deter us we were back on the attack. After a number of short corners, expertly defended by their keeper, we finally got goal number 4. An excellent reverse hit goal completed the scoring bringing the final score to a very well received 5-1.

The threat of storm Brian bringing treachous weather conditions just about at push back time, caused great concern as to if the game would be able to go ahead. However after getting the all clear from the leisure Centre in the morning, the South Glos Hockey team braved the storm and made their way to the forest. In less than favourable conditions, both teams struggled against the gale force winds and rain but buckled down for an action packed game. Lydney started off a bit slow but quickly, with excellent guidance from their coach on the sideline, got into their stride and managed to keep majority of the possession. Implementing effectively and confidently some of what we worked so hard on at training kept south glos well away from our D. Unfortunately after many beautifully structured attacks from both our midfield and strikers, not to mention plenty of attacking shorts we were just unable to convert anything into a goal. With only 2 minutes to go and no score for either team it all got a bit frantic and just seconds before the whistle was about to go the ball found its way onto one of south glos’ feet just inside their D, awarding us a last minute short corner. The final whistle blew and it was just a case of playing out the corner to determine the final score. In a very exciting and nail biting conclusion the whole Lydney team surrounded the D determined that the only way the ball was going to leave the D was across the goal line. Luckily all it took was one straight strike from the top of the D to provide the winning goal. Lydney are going from strength to strength every week.